SOCCER BRIEFS

Agencies

ENGLAND

City earnings break record

Manchester City’s broadcast income while winning the English Premier League title reached a league record ￡60.6 million (US$96.7 million). Half the domestic TV cash and all the overseas rights income are split equally among the 20 clubs. The league said on Tuesday that each club received an equal share of ￡13.7 million from domestic broadcasters, ￡18.7 million from overseas broadcast rights, plus ￡755,000 for each place in the standings. About ￡570,000 is earned each time a club appears live on British TV. Arsenal earned ￡56.2 million while finishing third, but fourth-place Tottenham Hotspur earned ￡57.4 million after playing in 23 live TV games to its north London rival’s 19. Last-place Wolverhampton Wanderers earned ￡39.1 million.

SENEGAL

Fans pay tribute to Bocande

Hundreds of fans attended the funeral of Jule Francois Bocande at the national cathedral in Dakar to pay tribute to the Senegal great, who died in France last week at 53. Bocande was one of the first Senegalese to play in Europe when he joined French club Metz, becoming the top scorer in the French league in the 1985-1986 season with 23 goals. His brother-in-law Moustapha Dabo said Bocande’s death on May 7 after an operation has left Senegal in shock, adding: “He was a man of principle and of passion. He gave another dimension to Senegalese football,” and that a local proverb that says: “If someone achieves great things, you must do your best to thank him” is “why we are here.”

NETHERLANDS

Coach puts Maher in squad

Coach Bert van Marwijk has included uncapped 18-year-old Adam Maher in his provisional 27-man Netherlands squad for the European Championship next month. The talented AZ Alkmaar midfielder made the cut as Van Marwijk trimmed down a 36-player roster ahead of a pre-tournament training camp in Switzerland. The squad has to be reduced again to 23 players by May 29. Van Marwijk sent home Urby Emmanuelson of AC Milan and Vitesse Arnhem defender Alexander Buettner, both of whom were under consideration for the left back position. Also dropped on Tuesday were goalkeepers Jasper Cillessen of Ajax and Erwin Mulder of Feyenoord, Twente winger Ola John, Hedwiges Maduro of Valencia, Nick Viergever of AZ, Stefan de Vrij of Feyenoord and PSV Eindhoven midfielder Georginio Wijnaldim. The Netherlands are in a group with Germany, Portugal and Denmark at the tournament in Poland and Ukraine.

ENGLAND

FA worries about racism

The head of English soccer has raised concerns with UEFA president Michel Platini that players and fans could be racially abused at European Championship matches in Ukraine. Football Association chairman David Bernstein said: “UEFA are taking the whole potential situation very, very seriously.” Referees have the power to stop games if racist chants are being directed at players. Bernstein told a British parliamentary hearing into racism that “we are working on all sorts of contingency plans both for possible issues in stadia or outside the stadia. There are all sorts of things that could happen in Ukraine.” Ukraine is co-hosting Euro 2012 with Poland from June 8 to July 1. Anti-racism groups investigated an 18-month period up to March last year and found 195 incidents at matches in those two countries.